+ Whilst the world busily returns to its activities, the Sacred Liturgy of Holy Mother the Church continues to contemplate the Christmas mystery. Eight days of the Christmas Octave itself are insufficient to plumb the depths of the Incarnation. The feast of the Epiphany follows, and according to ancient custom in these very days we contemplate this recognition and adoration of the Christ-Child by the kings of this world for a further eight days, culminating in the celebration of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which we celebrate tomorrow. In this progression of feasts, in the transition from the shepherds at night coming to the crib, the kings who travelled from afar laden with symbolic gifts, to St John the Baptist declaring “this is the Lamb of God, this is He Who takes away the sin of the world” (Gospel; Feast of the Baptism of the Lord) we have an increasingly clear testament to exactly Who this child born in a manger in Bethlehem in fact is. And today, on this Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany (the first Sunday after the Epiphany) we have the spectacle of the boy-Jesus teaching in the Temple unknown to His parents, who thought Him lost. Some calendars keep this day as the feast of the Holy Family, and certainly we can ponder that element of Our Lord’s life on earth with much profit. But the main focus of the Sacred Liturgy of Christmas and Epiphany is Christological: Who is it that has been born? What is this child, this boy, this man baptised by John the Baptist? This morning the Church places before us that He is a boy who, at his own initiative, engages in profound dialogue with the teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem, causing astonishment in both those with whom He spoke and even more astonishment in His distressed parents when finally, after some days, they found their missing twelve-year-old Son. “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s House?” the Boy replies to His mother’s more than reasonable complaint about Him going missing. This is perhaps one of the cheekiest expressions of Our Lord recorded in the Gospel, and one could well understand a mother giving such a twelve-year-old a good slap for answering in such a way. But there is more here, isn’t there? There is a quiet yet clear recognition and acceptance of the reality that He does belong in His Father’s House, that whilst He is a twelve-year-old boy, He is nonetheless the Christ of God. Sacred Scripture does not give us further incidents from his adolescence or youth, but it is hard to imagine that He did not similarly engage during His subsequent life in Nazareth. The Gospel most certainly speaks of Him growing in wisdom and in favour in the sight of God and man. So too, it notes, that the Blessed Virgin Mary kept these things quietly in her heart. My brothers and sisters, we must not let our own return to work after the Christmas feasts distract us from all that our Holy Mother the Church puts before us in her sacred rites: the Christ-Child is God made man for our Salvation: He is the unique Saviour of All Mankind; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life; etc. Certainly, we can say that we know this intellectually, and we can reaffirm our faith in it every time we sing the Creed. But the celebration of this reality this Christmas, this Epiphany, needs to change me. It needs to find in me more fertile soil so that the roots of faith may penetrate my being more deeply and bring forth more fruit in me in the particular vocation to which I am called. It may be, indeed, that it may give me sufficient faith and strength to respond generously to God’s call. We know the secular custom of making new year’s resolutions. (It is sometimes amusing to see how long it is before we cannot even remember what they were!) It is time, however, that we make our Christmas and Epiphany resolutions. That is to say, we must ask ourselves: How am I going to respond more faithfully, more generously, more fruitfully to the reality of God made man for my salvation? Certainly, this involves the preliminary conversion of our lives from sin and vice—that is a given—but how, positively, can I make use of the immeasurable gift of the graces that these sacred days bring? What good can I—must I—do in return, so that our feasting has not been in vain? As we adore the Christ-Child anew on His Altar this morning, let us ask for the light and the grace to be able to respond with generosity and joy. + Comments are closed.
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